Indy Power Rankings for the Week of December 28th, 2015

Indy Power Rankings for the Week of December 28th, 2015
#1 Sami Callihan (@TheSamiCallihan)-The new year of rankings for the IPR starts in much the same way that 2015 ended. Sami Callihan was #2 last week and as the year starts anew, he is now #1 for the very first time. He had a very impressive weekend as the now defunct 2CW Heavyweight Champion defeated AR Fox at AAW on 12/26 and then followed that up by defeating Joey Janela in Rhode Island at Beyond Wrestling on 12/27. A 2-0 week gets him his first #1 after he has absolutely crushed the competition since departing from the WWE for what appears to be much greener pastures on the indies. What gold lies in his future and how many more #1 rankings can he rack up before the end of 2016? It may be a fun year.
#2 Chris Hero (@TheChrisHero)-Chris Hero continues to prove that veterans on the indies can still be very successful after yet another great weekend to kick off the rankings for 2016. On 12/26 he defeated Colt Cabana and then followed that up with a win vs. JT Dunn in a battle of “Death By Elbow” partners at Beyond Wrestling on 12/27. A 2-0 week earns Hero the #2 spot in the first week of eligibility for the 2016 IPR 100. Looking at the #1 and #2…how cool would it be to see these two lock horns again in 2016? It’s been a while, but that’s definitely a match we’d love to see revisited before the end of the year.
#3 Tsukasa Fujimoto-Aside from Sami Callihan, a lot of the love for the #1 spot went to Tsukasa Fujimoto who has amassed a nice collection of gold. The Reina World Women’s Champion, 1/2 of the NEW Daily Sport and JWP Tag Team Champions (and 1/2 of International Ribbon Tag Team Champions) defeated Rabbit Miyu at JWP on 12/23, then defeated Maki Narumiya at Reina on 12/26 to retain the title, then teamed with Aoi Kizuki at Ice Ribbon on 12/26 to go to a draw with Hamuko Hoshi & Tsukushi, then teamed with Arisa Nakajima at JWP on 12/27 to defeat DASH Chisako and Sendai Sachiko to win the Daily Sports and JWP tag team titles, and then defeated Mika Iida at Wave the same day to go 4 wins, 1 draw for the week. A great week earns Fujimoto her first ranking and it’s a high one. We hope to see more of her in 2016!
#4 Davey Vega (@DaveyVega85)-One of the most unique wrestlers on the indies AND a former #1 in the Indy Power Rankings returns to the Top 10 this week as he defeated Louis Lyndon on 12/26 to win the AAW Heritage Title. It’s been a heck of a run over the last couple of years for Vega as he continues to impress at shows throughout the Midwest. To our knowledge, he only had the one win over the weekend but clearly it impressed the voters enough to move him up to the #4 spot in the first week of 2016 rankings eligibility. We expect to see a lot more big things from him in 2016.
#5 Sareee-We get another first-timer to the Indy Power Rankings as Sareee gets her first ranking after she teamed with Meiko Tanaka at Wave on 12/25 to defeat Kaho Kobayashi and Rina Yamashita in the final of the Young Oh! Oh! Tournament, then at Diana on 12/27 she defeated Keiko Aono in the semifinals, and then defeated Mima Shimoda in the final to win the Diana 40th Dojo Show One Night Tournament to go 3-0 for the week. VERY impressive first ranking as we once again show that international talent and female talent are always very well considered week in and week out in the Indy Power Rankings.
#6 Último Dragón-Age is truly just a number for Último Dragón as he gets ANOTHER ranking after having a SHOCKING but AMAZING 2015. He enters 2016 with a #6 ranking as he teamed with Yoshinobu Kanemaru at FMW on 12/22 to defeat Kotaro Nasu and Ryo Kawamura, then defeated Billy Ken Kid at Wrestle Dream on 12/23, and then teamed with Hiroshi Yamato and Daiki Inaba at Wrestle-1 on 12/24 to defeat Kazma Sakamoto, Nosawa Rongai and Mazada to go 3-0 for the week. He picked up right where he left off last year and it looks like we’ll be seeing him a lot again in 2016. With 5 straight wins, he just keeps on rolling.
#7 Roy Wilkins-It was absolutely impossible to ignore the strength of the CWF Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title win by Wilkins on 12/26. He went into a Six-Man Elimination Match vs. 5 of the best and came out on top as he outlasted (the then champion) Brad Attitude, Chet Sterling, John Skyler, Lance Lude, and Trevor Lee to win the title. While Wilkins is mostly known for his work in the Carolinas for CWF Mid-Atlantic and OMEGA, we hope to see him get out a bit more in 2016, if possible. He’s clearly heading for a solid year.
#8 El Ligero (@Ligero1)-It was an interesting yet successful week for the TCW and ½ of the Progress Tag Team Champions as he defeated Dara Diablo in a Mask Match at NGW on 12/22 and then vanquished Kay Lee Ray at SWE in a Loser Leaves Town Match. Compared to 2014, 2015 was a little bit of a down year for Ligero but he starts out 2016 strong with two impressive victories. Now with 4 straight wins to his credit, the former #1 looks to build on this ranking as the weeks go by.
#9 Kongo Kong (@RealKongoKong)-You have to give a lot of credit to Kong’s devoted fans and followers (and the Strong Style Wrestling supporters) who helped to get him to the #2 spot in the online voting competition this week. That performance in the poll combined with his big win vs. another monster in Russ Jones at AAW on 12/26. The IWA Mid-South World Champion, FWF, and JCW Heavyweight Champion has been absolutely unstoppable over the last couple of years. Hear him talk about it on the IPR 100 Reveal-Night 2 here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/elitepodcastnetwork/2015/12/31/ipr100-2015–night-2-ft-santana-garrett-roderick-strong-matt-tremont-more
#10 Shingo Takagi-The Dragon Gate Open the Dream Gate Champion returns to the singles Top 10 for the first time in a few months as he defeated CIMA on 12/27 to retain the title in Dragon Gate’s big year-end show. He has now won 4 straight victories and looks to start off 2016 the right way as he just squeezes into the Indy Power Rankings this week. With the title he holds and the type of dominance he has shown in the past, he’s another one that we can expect a lot more of in 2016. We can also only hope that he’ll return to the U.S. at some point this year as well.
People’s Champ. Yunke-Honestly, the best way to describe Yunke’s win in the online voting competition is “really cool.” That’s the easiest and best way to talk about the fact that we get our first Spanish wrestler as People’s Champ. In the past we’ve had countries such as Israel and Australia come on strong to help their guys win the vote, but this time it was Spain. Not to be forgotten, he is also the NEW WWW Extremo Champion after defeating Hades for the title on 12/26. 91 votes earned him the award this week.